‘Doctor’ dupes family of N4m to treat cancer patient

A man, who posed as an oncologist Charles Nze, has been arrested by the police for allegedly duping a family of N4 million to treat a cancer patient, Franca Egwabor.

Charles Nze, who claimed to be a dentist at Park View Clinic, Victoria Island, and an oncologist in a military hospital was yesterday paraded by Police Commissioner Fatai Owoseni.

He was alleged to have collected $100,000 from the patient’s brother, who lives in the United States as advance payment under the guise of importing chemotherapy equipment to treat the victim.

The suspect also allegedly collected about N1.7 million to help his supposed lover, Prisiclia Efesue, secure employment with the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS).

Efesue, who introduced the suspect to her family after meeting him at a bus stop, said she never knew he was a fraudster.

She said: “I met him and he said he was an oncologist with the military. I have this cousin who has been sick for about two years.

“So, he came to the house and requested for her medical history, which was brought out because we have gone to various hospitals and churches.

“After looking at the result, he said she was suffering from gastric cancer and that it will cost us $10,000 to treat her. He said we needed to pay the money so that he can get a chemotherapy machine from the US, and my brother made the payment in instalments.

“He now said he wants to prep her before the chemo machine arrived and he was giving her painkillers and multi-vitamins. She has been in pains for two years and so, the drugs were subduing the pains.

“Along the line, he started threatening my brother to pay him balance of one million naira. But we have not seen the machine yet.

“So, we suspected fraud and went to the military to investigate only to discover that he was not known there. I met him at Oando bus stop and we exchanged numbers. We both attend Catholic Church and so, I did not suspect him.”